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Monastario San Francisco
That´s masa´s back in front of a huge church in Central Lima Well we´re on our own now. Our constant entourage of family members has made it safely home and masa and I are here now to finally begin our Trip with a capital T. It was sad to see everyone go, I have to say. And not only because now we have no interpreters.. although that´s certainly presenting more of a challenge... it was nice to have familiar faces to turn to in such a strange place. It was chaotic, yes, but it was also so comforting to have people around you with whom you can feel completely safe, comfortable and at ease.
since the departure of the Carters and Youngs we have been staying with a family member of my brother in law michel, a woman named Papou. She lives in a city within the Lima metro area called Surco. She´s a wonderful hostess and has made us feel very much at home. She speaks perfect english which doesn´t hurt either. In fact the entire family speaks english here, so we can´t begin to complain about the accomodations.
The first day on our own we found ourselves back in Miraflores, where we´d been staying with the family, and where
Rats of the Sky
A very gloomy photo of the pigeons flying and the Lima winter sky. Kids kept popping balloons to make the pigeons fly around and then they´d scream as the birds flew over them. smart. a lot of the tourist type stuff is to be found. We went to the Museo Amano, which requires reservations, but is a free museum showing the private collection of a wealthy japanese peruvian. There are amazing pottery pieces on display but the real draw of the museum seems to be its collection of ancient textiles. They were spectacular in terms of the complexity of color, graphic design and the inticracy of the weaving. There were laces made of cotton and tapestry made of alpaca and everything in between. it was really something to see and I would highly recommend making a trip there if you are ever in Lima, it´s in the guidebooks, I´m sure. We got the tip from Papou. They don´t have english tours, only spanish and Japanese, but the woman spoke very clearly and, surprisingly, I caught most of the explanations. After the museum we wandered around and made it back to the house by dark. I don´t know why but since the Inca Trail and the 7pm bedtimes, I have been keeping very early to bed early to rise hours. it´s nice, actually.
Yesterday, our second day sans family, we ventured to the center
of Lima to see the Monastario de San Francisco and have lunch at a french convent that serves, well, french food. The monastary was really amazing. we caught the end of mass at the church attached to it, which was nice, and then wandered around looking at the carvings and such. we made it to the monastary just in time for the english tour which was nice. The monastary has incredible tilework as well as carvings in the ceiling and walls. It also has a collection of 16th century religious paintings, including a rendition of the Last Supper complete with a chili pepper on the table and angels with the wings of south american birds. Underneath the monastary was a huge system of catacombs housing thousands and thousands of people. Couldn´t take any photos there so I guess if you want to see it, you can probably google it.
From there we went to the museum of the inquisition and congress, though we couldn´t figure out what the congress part was and it wasn´t really explained. maybe congress also draws and quarters jews? nah probably not. That museum was unremarkable. Nothing to take photos of, except maybe for the
Lima Sailing Club
I was feeling pretty awful this day, but Denise and Papou took us to see the yacht club. or regatta club. or something to that effect. It was very pretty, too bad we were having June Gloom, Lima Style. manequins being tortured. 😊
lunch at the convent was good, though unfortunately I was too hungry to wait until 3pm when the nuns sing ave maria.
We left central lima in the early afternoon having already seen most of the rest of it when we were there with family a few days before. We then, I have to tell you, went to see Vivendo con mi Ex... or the Breakup as it´s called back home. For a split second as we were leaving the stadium seated theater, it felt as if we could just ride the escalators down to the Century City parking structure and drive home. And for a moment I really wanted to do that... ah well soon enough. I´m not really homesick, mostly because I know that this trip will go so quickly as it is, you know? I can´t waste the time wishing I was home... even if it would be nice to speak english for an entire day.
Tonight we leave for Arequipa, and I´m really excited. We´re going to arrive tomorrow mid morning and then go meet the woman with whom the language school arranged for us to stay. Spanish class
Testing the Waters
Here's Masa checking out the South American Pacific. starts on Monday. We´re planning to do 20 hours worth for now, that´s one week. If it seems to be helping a lot we´ll think about staying another week. I´ll definitely keep you posted as the school claims to have free internet. Hopefully we´ll have time to use it!
Until then, be safe and happy!!!
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Chris
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rats of the sky and free internet
I love the pic of the Monasterio San Fransisco. The center of Lima looks nice (except for the flying rats of course, they look nasty). That's smart to do language school - i think you'll get a lot out of it. i know what you mean though, after your down there for a while your brain starts to hurt from trying to speak and listen to Spanish all day. I advise to read the paper or a magazine (an Enlgish one of course) and have a coffee - it helps to decompress. I think our brains like to go back and forth, at least that's always been the easiest way for me to learn languages. Then one day you find yourself shooting the shit with some bus driver somewhere in the Andes and you're like - holy shit i speak Spanish! I'll check out Arequipa online - tell Masa i say hi (even though i've never met him). happy travels, Chris